Serious and Silliness Bodybuilding
John Livia presents the most informative and fun bodybuilding podcast ever. Covering bodybuilding contests, drama, gossip, and bodybuilding training, nutrition and supplementation.
Serious and Silliness Bodybuilding
Shooting the Breeze with John Livia, Lee Priest, and Eric Wood
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Jordan Hutchinson wins the Portugal Pro. Hollingshead comes in second. Tabani is denied a visa for the third time. Is Jordan Hutchinson overrated?
Is Nihat Kaya the next 212 Olympia champion?
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All right. For some reason, I wanted to say this today. He's big, he's bad, he's Eric Wood. I know it's fucking stupid, but I was thinking about it all day today. How you been? First of all, I want to tell you thank you for coming on. Like it's it's a pleasure having you. Really thanks for coming on, man. It's uh it's uh you're a great addition, that's for sure. How was uh your fourth of July?
SPEAKER_00It was good. We went up to Cleveland.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Okay.
SPEAKER_00We stayed at my mother-in-law's house and then uh I actually just worked pressure washing up there.
SPEAKER_02Oh, alright. And how uh had the baby enjoy well, how old is the baby now? Ten months. Was she getting a reaction from the fireworks and stuff?
SPEAKER_00She was in bed by before the she goes to bed like eight o'clock.
SPEAKER_02Before anything, yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_00It's kind of nice though, it's like now we used to stay up really late before having her.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Now we're in bed at like 10 30.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's that's that's parenthood. Yeah. Oh shit, Lee Priest is here.
SPEAKER_00I was listening in the background.
SPEAKER_02Okay, what's up, Big Lee? Uh just being quiet. You tell me to be quiet. Oh, before we get started, I'm sorry. I wanted to uh mention it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, you want to my birthday, it's my birthday still in America. You're welcome. Hello.
SPEAKER_02We're gonna we're gonna get to your birthday, okay? I didn't forget it. I didn't forget it. Neutrophit crucifix. If you wanna be a red, a race car at a red light, you if you want to be super fly TNT, the guns of Navarrone, this is what you take before you work out. Now, if you don't want to be that, you take this, which is what I take, Kroba, and it's a little, it's a lot uh not as uh dramatic as the crucifix. And then we got this, which is uh I just got this in the the uh Epic Way from Nutrafit. So so far it tastes pretty good. Uh Eric, I don't know what your company with, but what company you are with, but um if you ever get a chance to try this, I I gotta try that. Yeah, it's it's intense. It's intense.
SPEAKER_00I'm not with anyone, I just buy random shit.
SPEAKER_01Oh, really? Oh, then um maybe when you do well, crucifix resurrection will sponsor you one day.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, maybe when you make a name for yourself. But you know what's good actually, to be honest with you, the uh the uh the electrolytes, because like in New York it's been like over 100 degrees. Today was the first day that um it wasn't that bad, but electrolytes like really help a lot. So uh the um epic electrolytes, which is right here, I'm gonna show you, and then we're gonna get into then we'll get into it.
SPEAKER_01I don't really drink like electrolytes sometimes or even BCAAs when I'm training or like the intras. I don't really drink much because of the sweetness sometimes in the water, but then I always feel like I gotta piss a lot for some reason, whether it's the aminos in it or something. But when I drink it, I gotta keep pissing all the time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is the recovery formula, epic electrolytes, but then they also have another one, but I I forget the name of it. I can't they have a lot of just go to Nutrafit N-U-T-R-R-N-U-T-R-I-F I-T-T, Nutrafit.com. And the best part is anything on that website is 20% off. But if you buy crucifix and another product, you actually get 30% off. And use the discount code priest P-R-I-E-S-T.
SPEAKER_01For people that that's not even a Black Friday sale.
SPEAKER_02No, that's not a Black Friday sale.
SPEAKER_01All right, and we got the wait till you see what's on sale, white Wednesday sale. It's gonna be big. Oh, okay. I want you to know I hurt my finger too, Joe.
SPEAKER_02How'd you do that?
SPEAKER_01I was trying to just start the boat mode because I haven't started it for a while. You know, once you got to pull on it, yeah. You know, when you pull it halfway and it stops, the plastic thing caught under my nail, and say that's my nail, it split it from the top to the bottom and across that way. Oh, that's fucked up. Now when your nail bends right back, it split it in half. Oh, it felt good.
SPEAKER_02So, Eric, listen, listen to this. Before we get to Lee Priest's birthday and what he did, is I have a uh I have a a small Lee Priest story that happened today. Okay. So I'm in the gym, and this kid that I know, young kid who's just starting to get into bodybuilding, he's like 18, 19 years old. He comes over to me, he must be starting to listen to bodybuilding podcasts and stuff like that. He comes over to me and he goes, Do you think that the uh the the eighth place uh the eighth place Mr. Olympia, eighth place Mr. Olympia contestant in 1999 could be Mr. Olympia's today? So I said, I don't know. I'd have to see who I said who was the eighth place guy. So I said he goes, I don't know. And I was like, well, why would you even ask that if you didn't know who it is?
SPEAKER_01So then I googled it and it's fucking Lee Priest, and I said I didn't look too bad in 99. Was it 99 or 98?
SPEAKER_02It was 99, and I said, and you you you placed eighth. And I said, Okay, first of all, Sean Ray and Lee Priest would be in 212, so you really can't compare because they would both be under the weight cap for 212. There'd be 212 guys because they were smaller bodybuilders.
SPEAKER_01No, we would do the open. We're not scared to do the even Palombo said today on his show with Chris, I agree with Lee, get rid of the 212 and just have the open. Really, you think so?
SPEAKER_02I kind of I kind of like the 212. Yeah, because you're gay. Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, listen, man, sometimes you need some money. I don't know what to tell you.
SPEAKER_01You won't hold against you. 20 bucks and 20 bucks.
SPEAKER_00Dude, I would get a ton of those messages. Like when I was like 19 and 20, 21, about that.
SPEAKER_01This baffles me. I never got any. The whole time I was in LA and I heard of this gay for pay. I had no tattoos, I was blonde-haired, I was young. Not once did any fucking gay fucker ask me to do anything, and that really hurt my fucking ego. Let me tell you.
SPEAKER_02Actually, I'm lying. There was only one time, and I'm not gonna say who I can't. Uh yeah, I was drunk. Only one time where a guy online asked me for like naked picks, but but but I knew him prior to that.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So you for a while. Yeah, that obviously. So it really wasn't some strange dude. I knew the guy, so it that obviously you still talk to your brother, or that led to the demise of our relationship, obviously.
SPEAKER_01Uh anyway, why would you get rid of him? Why would you get rid of him? Because there could be those times down the track when you're not feeling horny, the wife's not with it. Hey, hey Mike, hey Mike, remember what you said? Do you want to come over and just watch a movie?
SPEAKER_02Netflix and chill. I I've tried considering it in the past, and I've gained great respect for gay men, you know, because you ever get that question, Eric. Uh, like the question like, would you suck somebody's dick for $500,000? Yeah, it's like, really? You want to pay me? It would be the worst experience of your life. You can get somebody, you can get a real good one for free. I mean, literally, I would literally be like this the whole time.
SPEAKER_01Like, well, that's like that's like my comedian. Remember, Nick DePoller, my comedian friend, goes, you know, I used to make fun of gay guys all the time, call them sissies and this and that. He goes, until I went for a prostate exam, and he goes, That doctor put his finger in my ass. He goes, I screamed like a little bitch. So he goes, you know what? Any man that can take a fat cock up his ass is a fucking man. He goes, I give him, I give him respect.
SPEAKER_02I'm just I'm just there was nothing about a man like I can't even I can't even tell you if a guy is good looking or not. Do you know what I mean? Like I can tell you if a guy's fat and out of shape, but I can't I can't even tell you if a guy is like a a good looking guy or not.
SPEAKER_01Are you are you listening to this, Eric? If we um can we pull up the clips from last week's shows where oh it used to be great, I used to be backstage helping all the guys oil up and they'd be pumping up back there. I used to love being backstage, you faggot. Yeah, I got paid for that. That was different. Ah, so you got paid to watch them pump up and oil up you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, do you know how much Maz Ali used to pay you for being there from seven o'clock in the morning? You would have done it for free, you little hard on. Do you know how much you used to pay? A hundred bucks. A hundred dollars. I'm not gay.
SPEAKER_00All right, I like women. I got messages selling posing trunks saying one guy wanted me to uh jerk off in a condom and send it to him for five hundred dollars. He wanted your baby, it's crazy. I'm never to send that.
SPEAKER_01I got a thing in the shed I found not long ago. It's a bag like this big, and it's probably got 40 pairs of posing trunks in from my all my competition. Send them to me, Eric, if you mind. I got a bag for well, you make a fortune.
SPEAKER_02Like, I don't know. I don't, I don't know. I don't get I don't get those things. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00It was a lot worse when I was younger, like when I was like, because I competed at 19. Uh like when you're broke and young, they they just come after you like crazy.
SPEAKER_01That's fucking oh, I start seeing the dolls, and you go and you see the dollar sides, and you're like, hmm, is it really that bad if I just send a picture of my feet or something?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was I was working at Olive Garden. I'm like, man, I could that's like a whole shift at Olive Garden.
SPEAKER_02Well, it happened that Nick Trigilli he fell for it. Remember, he fucking he fell for the trap. Yeah, I think he I think his uh ex-girlfriend broke up with him. He tells a story that um it he didn't know that the guy it was all over the internet that he knew, but his girl found out, and the girl's mother found out.
SPEAKER_01And it's it's that's the worst thing. When it gets on the internet, you just put in Nick Trigilli XXX and all those videos pop up and stuff.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that was hilarious with the little Chinese guy. The little Chinese. Oh, that was fucking hell. I'm not gonna I'll I'll be very explicit. I won't, I won't, I mean, I'll be I won't be much detail, but did you ever see that, Eric? I I heard about it, but no okay. So so apparently, if you look up Nick Trujillo XXX, right? It's him and another guy, right? And there's this little Asian dude, uh tiny, tiny little Asian dude uh doing hammer curls in between them, if you will. Oh yeah, yeah, that's I swear to god, I'm not kidding. Like it's just the beginning, that's just the warm-up. He's like this. Oh Nick and Trogeria. Oh, but uh yeah, no, we we were we were rolling. We we we looked it up, and I looked it up on my phone because I never saw it. And I think they say once you see it, you know. But the thing is the angle, the angle the little Asian guy is bent over and you could see like the Harland tunnel straight through.
SPEAKER_01But the thing, the thing about grapefruit in Kiowa is though, because it's being brought up and people would make fun of it, I would play into that. I would have had t-shirts with like grapefruit on it and muscular grapefruit. I would have had like a fruit salad and said who's coming to the orgy. I would have fucking I would have played into that fruit, actually. I would have sold that, I would have sold into that, played into it so well that I would have did it.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I even told Kai that at expo because someone was talking about it not long ago. I said, Oh, I see you shit popped up online again. He just started laughing. That's why someone said, Kai, I'd be having grapefruit on t-shirts with cream on top, and he just starts laughing like you're fucking crazy. I'm like, mate, just do it, just do it.
SPEAKER_02You can't troll Lee Priest because he till turn it into something like that. You can't. It's impossible to insult him. It's like when um him and Sergio were going back and forth about uh uh what was it, the UFC thing, and you just you just continue to make the AI videos for a week after that. You won't win, so forget it. Anyway, should we talk? Should we talk a little bit about bodybuilding?
SPEAKER_01Yes, the one with James and Jordan.
SPEAKER_02Yes, all right, Eric. Since you are uh the young up-and-coming bodybuilding stallion, I want your opinion on what you thought about the uh the Portugal pro. I mean, you could you could be honest. I mean, you know, I know you don't have any sponsors, so Jordan looks a lot better than he did in Italy. Yeah, I'll agree with that.
SPEAKER_00But I was surprised James looked great. Like James looked fantastic. He looked like the old James, you know?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, he definitely looked good.
SPEAKER_00It was by one point, yeah. Well, I think it was two by the end of the by the and a lot of shots.
SPEAKER_02I thought I thought James won a lot of the shots. James has he has that more like that dense. Yes, yeah, yeah, that old man dense that you get when you're like your mid to late 30s by that point, you know. I feel like his tan could have been a little better.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly what I'm saying. That's the only thing I thought too. His tan, but he says that though. Yeah, it was hard to I guess because he's like, you know, being English, you really need a good bass tan when you're that pale. And yeah, like I said, even Paul Dillett, all the all my black friends used to tan up. We'd be like, Why they teny? Even Paul would say, even being as black as he was under the lights, sometimes they look grey. They have a gray look to them. So yeah, yeah, but yeah, I thought like probably I was looking at some of the shots, and of course we're not there, of course, but Jordan looks great, he's got great lines and symmetry. But I probably would have given the nod to James just because probably the best he's looked forever, and he had like that bit more freaky type look to him, like like a freaky bodybuilder, whereas Jordan looks fantastic, but I probably would have lent James away on it because I'm probably biased too because he's a good friend. But I just thought I thought too.
SPEAKER_02Uh when I watched the uh I watched the live stream, I thought so too. I thought James took most of the shots.
SPEAKER_01There were a few shots though, shots were close, but uh just gave James the edge.
SPEAKER_02I thought James uh I thought James took a lot of the shots, like you know, the especially the shot shots where you know, like the side chest and the side try where you see that thick that thick muscle, like that mac truck density that he has. The thing is here's what I want to uh bring up. Once again, Tabani doesn't get the visa, and this is why I think uh I this is why I I made the the title is is uh Jordan Hutchinson a little bit overrated. Um, I think he is a bit overrated because I think if he's not coming on the show, no, definitely not. If Tabani was in the show, again, Tabani would have wrecked everybody, like as far as I'm concerned. If he comes in shape, if he comes in shape, yeah. Yeah, and he's very rarely out of shape. I mean, what do you think?
SPEAKER_01We expected that at the Olympia to come in shape and he let us all down like Benicki.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he was off a little bit. I mean, you gotta give him you gotta give him a little bit of uh leeway because you know they're talking about a guy who got like his visa a week before. He's been ready for months, prepping for it was ready. Well, Eric, what do you think? You think Tabani would have been able, I think Tabani would have been it would have been a fucking Spain and Italy, Portugal, bang, bang, bang, bang. I really what do you think?
SPEAKER_00I I thought, yeah, I think he would have won.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think I don't know.
SPEAKER_00It's hard, it's hard judging off Instagram. You gotta see him on Twitter.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah, yeah. No, I agree. I listen, I like Jordan Hutchinson, I think he's a very good bodybuilder. I don't think he's a great bodybuilder, and I think once you know he gets on stage at the Olympia, that's when you're gonna see the you know, he's gonna have a rude awakening. He he he says that he wants to break the top 10. I don't know if he's gonna break the top 10 this year. The other thing is um James Holling said, I don't know when the next show he's doing is, but I know he's doing Tampa. Tampa is a fucking deep lineup. And I think I don't you got Joe, you got Nick, you got uh uh Colossus Ken, you got mass monster after mass monster after mass monster. I don't know if he's gonna be able to hold his own in that show.
SPEAKER_01Do you think if um Tabani had been in this one, would have been judged different? Because we have Jordan and James. James is a bit freakier bodybuilder, and Jordan has to shape. Do you think they would have been looking more at Tabani and James rather than James and Jordan if he was in it? Maybe it could very well be, yeah. It it could be they're more similar body types than Jordan and James.
SPEAKER_02So and and Tabani just has that he's he's got size, but he has that really, really beautiful flow to his physique. And he comes in very rare that he he missed the mark at the Olympia last year. I'll I'll give you that, but very rare that he comes in out of shape, especially and he's got Milos working with him. And I I think he would have won all three shows if he would have got all three visas personally. But I mean, yeah, uh that's just my opinion, but it's just uh I I you know listen I think James and Jordan are good bodybuilders. I don't think they're great bodybuilders. I don't think you're gonna see him breaking the top ten if James could win a show this year at the Olympia. You know, the Olympia comes and it's a whole fucking new world, man. It's a whole different ballgame, you know. Um a lot of times you see a lot of bodybuilders in the past, and I was trying to rack my brain last night, bodybuilders in the past that people were talking about, that people would talk about that people would be like they would be the talk of the town for a little while, and then they kind of just disappear, not because of uh they got sick or or they just kind of stopped competing for whatever reason, whether it's financial or because they just didn't want to do it anymore.
SPEAKER_01Whatever happened to Trey Brewer, I remember Trey Brewer back in the day, he was gonna be the next big thing, he was a young kid coming up.
SPEAKER_02There's a lot of them, and I made and and I'm talking about in like the recent like the last five to seven years. And I remember I this is the the uh the list that I came up with off the top of my head. Michael Lockett, if you remember him, everybody was like, Whoa, naturally in the beginning, wasn't he freaking yeah, and then he decided he was gonna stop competing and now he's a personal trainer at Golds of Venice, which is probably making more money doing that, right? Um, Samir Trudy, remember him? Samir Trudy was uh I'll look him up. Yeah, look, he was a uh Samir Trudy bodybuilder.
SPEAKER_01He was hanging really rich, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_02He was a talk of the town for a little while. Um there you go. Uh here we go. I don't know if you remember uh these guys that this was him. Uh there you go. That was him for a little while. And I don't know, he kind of fell off. He was one of another guy who kind of fell off not competing anymore. Uh starting get disillusioned.
SPEAKER_01I know when what's his name back in the day, Paul DeMeya got his pro car and did the Olympia that he was so discouraged that he pretty much just lost it mentally.
SPEAKER_02It's like yeah, they um uh uh the other couple oh Nicholas Voliat, remember him?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I remember him.
SPEAKER_02Nicholas he was insane, and he decided uh I'm just not doing this anymore. The Swedish guy, right? Yeah, it was Swedish. Do you remember him, Lee? Uh no. Oh, look on. Well, he was insane, and these are guys that people were talking about, and um they just did not want to compete anymore. That was it. Uh, let's see. Uh uh, I remember I had them on.
SPEAKER_01I guess you gotta be realistic sometimes too. Maybe they what you think because some of them would have done well, but I guess I wonder if some just think they see the writing on the wall, they think I'm never gonna really win this or win that. And like I said, it's not really about winning. If you love competing, you compete and do it. And on any given day, you can never say you're not gonna win because anyone can win on any given day, depending how the others come in, if they're in shape or not. So I think some just I mean, I said, like I said, bodybuilding, you've got to be physically strong, but the strongest thing you're gonna use in this sport's what's up here, and if you haven't got it up there, you're not gonna go far in this sport, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02And remember this guy, uh Lee? He was a 212 bodybuilder. I think he did make it to the count then. This is 2018. I mean, he was he was jacked, and so he was another guy that um wonder I wonder where they did just disappear to, or just uh yeah, I I I think a lot, I think what happens is a lot of guys realize they gotta spend a little more money than they're making. I don't think a lot of them and I think um Lucas Osladil, he's another guy that just kind of decided I'm not competing anymore. Um and Ahmed Ashkenani, he was the huge talk of the town, if you remember him. Uh Charles Griffin, but I understand he's making a comeback. But these were all guys that people would talk about, just like people are talking about Jordan. Now, I'm not saying Jordan, this is gonna be his outcome. I'm just saying I've been around bodybuilding long enough where you see a particular body type and you go, uh yeah, he's good, but he's he's I he's he's not gonna make it to the top. Do you know what I mean? I think Lee said it the best one time. You were talking about genetics, and some people just have the genetics to be a good pro, some people have the genetics to be a good amateur, and then some people have the genetics to one in a billion genetics to be in the top five at the Olympia, you know, and I think that's really what it comes down to. So when I look at things like that in all sports, so really, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, absolutely. You look at look at NFL, how many great quarterbacks, but to be uh you know, like a Troy Ackerman or someone, or whoever the top quarterbacks are, they're only one in a handful, you know, they come along same as baseball, riding a car Lewis or Hussein Bolt when you probably have a ton of people that can sprint fast, but to be in that top echelons, I said no drug in the world is gonna make it. That comes down to genetics, hard work, minds, everything.
SPEAKER_02So 100%. I couldn't agree more. And and I think that's really what it comes down to. When I look at Jordan Hutchinson, I see a very good bodybuilder. I don't see a great bodybuilder, and um, I'm not gonna be proved right or wrong until he is in a lineup that uh I mean he got beat by Bonak, and Bonack came in um ninth last year, uh you know, at the Olympia. So I I don't like jumping on the hype train right away. But then at the same time, there are bodybuilders you'll look at and you go, Oh, this kid's got what it fucking takes. And the kid that won 212, knee hot, that kid's got what it fucking takes, man. Holy shit! And I did a video.
SPEAKER_01I reckon he could he could do the open, he could go in the open.
SPEAKER_02Oh, I don't I don't, he's only 23 or 24. I guarantee he's gonna do the open.
SPEAKER_01That's why I always said I've always said that's why I always said with Flex Lewis winning seven, flex could have won four, and I reckon Flex would have been the first one to win a 212 and an open before Derek or anyone because Flex would have been great in the open back in that time.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I mean, this kid just as much as I like the 212, I just feel like it holds some guys back from getting like they'll eventually get to the open like Derek did and Bonack and Hardy and everyone, but I just feel like just go for it straight away. Fuck it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, I think it's just I think it's I think it gets to the point where it's just muscle mass, you know. Do they have enough muscle mass to compete with the other?
SPEAKER_01Like I said, if we have 212, we're gonna do a 195 for the guys that can't make 212 in the pros?
SPEAKER_02I I think there's way too many divisions, especially in the girls, especially in the girls. Dude, Toronto.
SPEAKER_00Toronto had every division, and we didn't have prejudging until 5 30 p.m. Right, right.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01That's when you that's when you're like, Well, I gotta pump up. Oh my normally relaxing at this time of day.
SPEAKER_02But this kid has the ability to be the 212 Olympia uh winner. Maybe I'll I'll even go on a I'll even go on a you'll give Keon a run, I think. Did she? I think he'll be he will be give Keon a run because he actually put a lot of uh made a big improvements in one year, you know.
SPEAKER_01I mean his conditioning's good too.
SPEAKER_02His condition, his symmetry, his balance, his X-frame, his waist is fucking this big. It's ridiculous. I think he might be uh knocking um Sean Clarita out of the two spot. I mean, you know, I mean, we've talked about it last time we were on this is the life of an athlete. The the older guys, you know, they're trying to hold on, and the younger guys just come up and knock you out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like we said though, it's no fault of their own. It's just that they were like Clarita, can Clarita improve anymore? Probably not. All he can do is conditioning, whereas this young kid, judges will see improvement, and when they see improvement, I just think they reward improvement. That doesn't mean Sean's got any less of a bodybuilder, just that these younger ones are improving so much the judges have to reward the improvement.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and and let me let me make it let me make it clear. My opinion about Sean Clarita has been the same since um basically before he won the Olympia. I think he's the greatest bodybuilder under 200 pounds that ever lived. I mean, um Lee is close, but Lee always came in like 190 and I 200. Uh Sean comes in at 185.
SPEAKER_01The only one you had close was probably Labrado was what 186 in the day, but I think Clarito has more of a freaky look than him do. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02I mean, he's five foot two, he's 185, and he, you know, think about it. He's giving up, you know, almost he's giving up, you know, what 20 pounds to guys more than 20 pounds to guys that uh that when he won that open and beat Regan and Sergio's buttons giving up almost a hundred chances. That was unbelievable, uh you know, and uh that just goes to show you what a great bodybuilder he is.
SPEAKER_01But he just looked like a little Ronnie. If you've had Ronnie in conde shape and him, he looked like a mini me type Ronnie because they're the same structure, small waist, back, everything.
SPEAKER_02I know the guy, a kid is just a phenomenal bodybuilder. But um, so what do you think? Uh about what did you think about uh niha, the Turkish kid, uh Eric.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I feel like there's no weak points, everything flows well, yeah. And I I feel like he's gonna outgrow that division because he's gonna keep getting on muscle.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he's only I think he's either 23 or 24.
SPEAKER_00And I think he's at the top of the class, all right. Like I think he's yeah, he came in third last year or fourth.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if he's either third to fourth and 212 uh 212 Olympia last year, and he's already at the top of his class. And yeah, I think I think he I think Lee's right. I think a lot of these guys use 212 and classic physique as a stepping stone before they get put on enough muscle to get to the open. And I and I don't see anything wrong with that. It it is what it is, you know. You get your pro card, you do what you gotta do. I I fully get it, I fully understand. But in Lee's day, and he said it plenty of times before, it was you stayed an amateur until you were ready. Um, and then you grew as an amateur. Now these guys are growing as as pros. And um, and then you know, you can feel about it how you how you how you want. You know, some people like the 212, some people don't, some people think there's too many divisions, some people do, you know, they like it. I it is what it is.
SPEAKER_01I just like seeing them because because why they got the 212. I think if someone like him or a 212 guy does the open, I think the judges in their minds think you shouldn't be in this class, you have a class, so they don't get judged fairly. Where in my day, because it's just one class, I think people like myself who were lighter and shorter, we got judged more fairly, like Labrada and everyone. But now I think because they have a class, they're like, you should be there, not here. So, you know, I'd like to see them, like I said, just get rid of it. Because you know, I love seeing the small, when I say smaller, some of these guys are just as big pound for pound. But yeah, I like I like to see people like that really take it to the big guys because you know, with Ronnie, Chris, every time I beat them, I knew it fucking got to them because I was the smaller bodybuilder, so it really affected them mentally. So I like to see the shorter guys and that actually take it to the bigger guys and blow them away because mentally they're like, You heard Ronnie. How does that little guy beat me?
SPEAKER_02It's like yeah, well, I I really think there's definitely too many divisions, um, especially in the women's category. I mean, how women's categories is insane, dude. Fucking insane. It was a ridiculous guy.
SPEAKER_01And they just and that's cause of the judges, too. They didn't stick to the criteria because I said it before when my wife Kathy was competing. They told the women back then, early 2000s, you've got to lose 20% of the muscle, you're getting too big. It's people don't like it. So Kathy and a lot of the girls lost 20 pounds, but then the biggest girl won again, said they're like, fuck it, we'll all get big. And then they started making these other classes. Look at this fit model. They're like, We want fit model to look like bikini used to. Well, if you stuck to the judging criteria of bikini when it started and didn't let it get out of control, make another class, yeah.
SPEAKER_02But I mean, between physique and bodybuilding and and uh fitness, don't do another men's class soon for sure.
SPEAKER_01Probably like a fit model for men.
SPEAKER_02Oh god, kill me. First of all, first of all, classic physique completely buried men's physique. Nobody even talks about men's physique anymore. It's it's almost obsolete, like literally. The only reason it's still live is because guys think that they could do it. Like any guy with a six-pack thinks, hey, I could do an NPC show and do men's physique, put on board shorts, I could do that. That's the only reason that fucking division is still alive. I couldn't even tell you, I couldn't tell you the top three guys in in men's physique. I have no clue, no idea.
SPEAKER_01Let's let's join men's physique and bikini and just throw them into the local bar Hawaiian Tropics contest because I don't know why Hawaiian Tropics doesn't sponsor the Olympia to bikini and fucking men's physique.
SPEAKER_02That's exactly what the NPC and the IFBB did. They they basically took a wet t-shirt contest and made it fucking joke. I mean, really.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's just if you want on his show, said you hear him saying the other day that he wants to do just that easy show and thing. He goes, let's just have a bulked up division like off-season, where you know how you see like Derek off season now and Samson when they were guest posing off season, he goes, Let's just have an off-season class where it's not really regulated by the IPB, but just guys in the off-season come in and we vote, and the biggest guy who's still sort of in shape wins. I think that'll be fun for the fans.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, Samson would win that hands down. Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01Sam, Sam, that Sergei bulked up pretty heavy and cut still, too.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, he I've he's gonna be a dark horse. Um, oh, that's actually a good question, Eric. Here's a guy who qualified for the Olympia 2026 last uh late last year after the Olympia, and he's not doing any shows this year, he's going right into the Olympia. Um mistake or no, he should have done a show before that. What is his first Olympia? First Olympia, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I don't think that's a mistake. I think that's that gives him more time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah?
SPEAKER_00Just to focus on focus on the main show.
SPEAKER_02Okay. What about what do you think, Lee? You think mistake, or he should have done one or two shows before the Olympia this year?
SPEAKER_01Uh it's hard to say because I like to see guys do shows just uh you know, get the experience, learn the little mistakes you're gonna make. Because if you just do on the one, look, if you've got if you got a down pat, which none of us never really do, sometimes on the day of the show, you're like, wow, I got it right, you know, because I've said it before, when you could do a show and you know you time it right, you look your best, and you got your diet written down, you're like, fuck, this is the best I've ever looked. Next contest, I'm gonna do the exact same diet, take the exact same drugs. You do the exact same thing, you don't look the same. So you always got to make these little changes. So I would like to see them do at least one or two shows before the Libya just uh iron out any little thing that could go wrong, because you know, do it picking that one show, you've got to get it 100% right on that one day at that right time. And like you said, and like you said too, as Eric was saying, they might say, All right, guys, make sure you're there on time. Prejudging's gonna start at 11, 2 p.m., you're still backstage. What the fuck? Come on, and then shit like that can annoy you because as I said, you know, quarter zone and getting stressed out. If you're thinking I'm gonna be on at 11 and you start prepping your food, some might be carving up for that 11 o'clock, doing their ward or whatever. An extra four hours that's a fucking lifetime in bodybuilding terms when 15 minutes you can go from good to shit, 30 minutes you can go from you've seen guys on stage where they start posing, it looks great, but end of pre-judging you like he just faded, or another guy could look shit, and the longer he poses, he gets better. So they need to work out the timing better for these pro athletes when they're gonna be on to go on. Because, like I said, that's stress backstage and the way your body can change in minutes is fucking ridiculous because we've seen so many guys look like he's gonna win. He comes out on stage like fuck, what did he do backstage? Did he fucking eat something wrong? Or but some of it could just be nerves too when you're getting pissed off, like I'm ready to go now. Come on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and we've seen it. Good, Rebecca.
SPEAKER_00It would make the uh the live streams, more people would buy the live streams if if they had a time on when it started. That yeah, that's why I watch it all day, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, I don't want to sit there and fucking um I live stream the Olympia. It's the it's the only one that I I mean I live stream it on YouTube, it's the only contest I'll do because you're the you know, you're there for hours. Two that two days, it's fucking it's annoying. Um, but uh yeah, uh unless you really know how your body functions, and that all and only the only way you're gonna know that is if you know you've competed over and over and you know how your body functions. That's why I'm like your first Olympia, maybe you should have done one or two shows beforehand just to see because even if you blew it, let's say he decided he was gonna do the New York Pro and he came in fucking fourth or fifth, and to him that's a that sock stand, right? Because he's won shows in the past. Uh people will stop talking about you, and you'll at least you'll be able to not have social media chirping in your ear, and you'll be able to concentrate on what you did wrong and and go back to the drawing board. Where I feel like, I mean, I might be wrong, but I feel like if you just I mean, I think anybody who makes the who does the Olympic should do the Olympia. I'm not I'm not saying Sean Ray any like shit like that, okay. What I'm saying is maybe you should have done one or two shows beforehand, just so you know what you have to fix by the time you get to the big dance, you know. But it takes the nerves off.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I think that's the main thing. It takes the nerves off and can put you more at ease because, like Eric knows, and we all know who've competed that like I said, even if you know what you got to do, sometimes doing that it still doesn't turn out right. Then you sit there thinking, why not? So it could be something as dumb as maybe you got two extra hours sleep one night, then you wake up that morning and look better. There are so many variants that come into it, because like I said, your diet could be perfect, the supplements perfect, everything. And then just one little thing, you're like, fuck, that looked better three days ago when I had it really depleted, and now I've sort of carved up a bit, I don't look as good. It's like your body's a wonderful thing. And like I said, if you get it right on the day and you nail it, good on you. Because I'd say most people are around 98%, but when you get it, you get it. But then, like I said, you can always be close to that. But like I said, it's still a you know, like a crapshoot sometimes where you just pray and hope you've done everything right. And you just like I said, you wake up that morning and look in their mirror thing, oh but sometimes you don't want to look because you'll start because you you well, our own worst critic. I remember I'll be flexing my legs, I'm like, they looked harder fucking two days ago, and then you start stressing. Why aren't they as hard now? Then you start doing the dumb shit. I'll lay down my feet up on a chair, I'll put my feet up here.
SPEAKER_00That was me and Toronto because Legion Legion went so well, and then Toronto. I'm like, this has to go just as good. Like, I'm doing everything the same.
SPEAKER_01And did you follow the same diet, same everything?
SPEAKER_00And yeah, Sido switched up, he took my cardio out and uh a few other things. He fed me a little bit more, but I was just I was like, man, I I feel like my legs are gonna be just tired from from doing multiple shows.
SPEAKER_02It didn't look that way.
SPEAKER_00Really? Yeah, that's what like everyone there was telling me I look good, but I'm just thinking like thinking worst case for some reason.
SPEAKER_02You came in second in Legion, who won Legion? Tony Al. Okay, yeah, you're losing to a top ten guy in the world, and then um you did Toronto, you came in second Toronto, and who won? Um Quentin. Quentin, okay. Um you really don't have any sponsors?
SPEAKER_00No, I don't really I never really tried.
SPEAKER_02Like I just nobody even even if you came in second and everybody was talking about you, no, you didn't get nothing really.
SPEAKER_00I don't my social media is weak. I got like 14,000 followers. I don't really feel that.
SPEAKER_02If that's weak, mine is shit. Yeah, but I mean I think maybe we should talk to uh SEDO because you definitely deserve a sponsorship. I mean, it's not like I feel you're in weak lineups. I mean, you fucking held your own against two good guys, you know.
SPEAKER_00I feel like it's just changing. Like the sponsorships, they go for more social media.
SPEAKER_01Well, I haven't heard Young LA saying that because um one of the owners of Young LA was on he was on the podcast, and someone said, What do you look for? Is it like athletes that do well, stuff like that? And they said, No, look at their social media, and generally they're following. If they're up near a million followers or something, they get them. And then, but then I've seen some new ones they've signed who aren't really that high and stuff. But yeah, it's sad when look, I'm off for people doing stuff, influences and stuff, but if I want to see people, I want to see people that have actually accomplished something, not just done a channel and talk about other people, or I I can do stuff and talk here and get a because then there are people that have a following that have done nothing. I'm thinking, okay, people follow you, but what are you actually done apart from just talk about what other people have done? So I want to see people have been out there in the trenches, done the hard work, they know what it's like to go for. That's why I admired Sam when Sam Sueck competed and stuff, because he started off just beginning to start an influence, he just started off recording himself and people liked it and started to follow him and stuff. Whereas some people are just too, I think, uh, like tacky. It's like they're trying to be something they're not, they're trying to be all fake, and I just don't like it. Oh, to me, it's just be yourself. If people like you, they like you, but yet at least accomplish something if you're gonna get sponsorships on something, you know, like prove yourself.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, I and that's the difference between our generation and this new generation is our generation understands accomplishment and then the fame comes after that. The new generation believes that social media uh followers are the accomplishment. They believe that because you have a half a million followers, that's the accomplishment, you know, and uh it's it it blows me away, you know. It's just like you've you've done Sam Sulik is the is the biggest riddle I can can't wrap my head around because um there is nothing about him that's interesting. Zero. Like he he's very strong milk, he's very calm, there's nothing exciting about him. He doesn't do anything crazy, not that they're doing crazy stuff. He's just another big guy on the internet, and uh he he I'll give him his credit, he did compete and he did turn pro, but then he gets on stage on the pro level and he gets you know, you know, he gets his ass kicked. But the fat like I like I understand the trend twins because they're fucking nuts. I get it, right? They like girls, they're like fast cars, they beat the shit out of each other. I fucking get it. I I understand that I don't understand Sam Sew, like I can't wrap my head around it.
SPEAKER_01I almost feel like he's a CAA operative because I don't think just because he's genuine, I think just because he's himself, I think that's what attracts people because he's not trying to do anything stupid or outrageous, he's just him. So it's like I'm just being me. Whereas your mate, like your mate Larry Wheels, that's done everything from finger painting to origami to sumo wrestling to art wrestling, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_01He's gonna be on that next edition of Is Is it a Cake or Is It Real?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. He even put his fucking his wife on the internet for some fucking.
SPEAKER_01Have you ever seen that show? Is it a cake or is it real?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah. My wife wants to come on that shit.
SPEAKER_01I look at that, I'm like, that can't be a cake. And then they cuddle. I'm like, fucking hell, that looks like it's real.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like an alien head or something like that. Well, now let's get to the elephant in the room. Lee, how was your birthday, man?
SPEAKER_01Speaking of cakes, I never even had a cake yesterday, so it was pretty miserable. I my friend wanted to buy me a cake. I said, Don't buy me a cake. So when I saw him at the gym, he gave me a birthday cake flavoured protein bar. I went to fucking stuff.
SPEAKER_02But did you do anything?
SPEAKER_01Did you go out with the wife? Did you this is what I did. I went to the gym. It's fucking raining and miserable. I trained and then I came home and it was 10 o'clock. I said, What are you gonna do now? It's raining and miserable. I played with the dogs because they were my birthday present like five years ago, and then I went inside and just started making myself Long Island iced teas at 10 o'clock in the morning. Now that's a good birthday. By 11:30, I was drunk. My friend Paul came over and said, Paul, I just remembered I had to pick up the wife. You'll have to pick up the wife for me this afternoon. That's a good friend. I'm drunk, and then Troy came over and we started like the inserts on my doors and the star in the wheel of the Jeep and all that. We started painting them red. So I took them off, painted them red in the rain while it was raining, and yeah, great day.
SPEAKER_02Listen, listen, as you get older, your birthday.
SPEAKER_01I was almost going to sit there and cry. It was so depressing. And I almost think I've got to take a shot of test because even at the gym today, I'm trying to do chest and his shoulders fucking kill me. I'm getting all depressed. Fucking hit my finger again every fucking two minutes in the gym. I'm just sitting there, and a guy walks over and goes, Oh, it's very nice to meet you, Mr. Priest. So I want to shake your hand and then he's like, I just want to thank you for all the inspiration. And almost started crying. I'm like, fucking hell, I need a shot of testosterone. I'm crying because someone spoke to me. Nipples are all sensitive enough. My eyes are tearing up. I'm like, oh, he's thanking me for inspiration. And I'm thinking, where's my inspiration? I feel shit.
SPEAKER_02You know, as you get older, like uh Eric, me and Lee are old. As you get older, like I turned 50 this year. And um of my wife made a big deal. She booked a vacation for us and whatnot. But like it's it's it's it's really nice. And I, you know, it's it's a cake and it's candy, but it's just it's just another fucking day.
SPEAKER_01You want to forget, you want to forget as you get older. As you once you get the birthdays, but no more, no more birthdays.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like when you're young and you turn 21 and when you're with your friends, and now you're illegal to drink, it's like, yeah, you know, it's now it's just like another fucking thank you. I get a birthday text from my brothers. Thank you, appreciate it. Thanks.
SPEAKER_01People go, well, sometimes life expectancy is like 72, 74. I'm like, I've only got 20 years to fucking go. This is bullshit. I'm going to 100. My wife says you're not going to get to 100. I said, I'll get to 100. Don't you fucking worry that way? At least I've got 40, 40, 46 years. It's 46 years to go.
SPEAKER_02I try not to think of that. I try not to, I try not to realize that I have more time behind me than I do in front of you. I know. I try not to think because if I think about that, I will fucking get depressed. And then what I do is I just stay busy and just work hard on the YouTube channel and and fucking try to make as much money as possible. That's basically.
SPEAKER_01You just pick yourself having a hard attack. I feel like a YouTube channel.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that was a good thing. Well, it was it was it it was different. Like, so it it when I got out of my 20s and I got to my 30s, I felt I wasn't married yet, and I didn't have like I didn't meet my wife yet. I felt like I was behind. You know what I mean? I wasn't making a lot of money yet. And I I I remember being from 29 to 30. I was like, there were times I was like embarrassed to tell people I was 30 because I felt like I was behind in life, you know. Um uh it was I'm I remember I used to always wear a baseball cap backwards. Oh, I would actually wear a baseball cap backwards because back then the style was like the fitted hats. I don't know if you remember, it was the fitted baseball hats, and I used to wear it backwards, and then I was like, I am too old to wear a baseball hat.
SPEAKER_01Did you wear one leg of your jeans up too?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, oh yeah, and then I just fucking flipped that shit around.
SPEAKER_01And then and you and you bent it down, you didn't leave it flat with the sticker on it.
SPEAKER_02I said I don't have the sticker, the sticker came later, but I remember it was uh, you know, I would just have like a Mets hat or a Yankees hat or something like that, and it would just be backwards. Um, and uh like like Limp Biscuit, yeah, yeah. Like Limp. Right, right, right. That was that was the style. And then I remember turning 30 and then and then 31. I was still like in that fucking rut. And I'm like, and it really, really wasn't a rut.
SPEAKER_01And now he now he is 50, he's a Limp Biscuit. So yeah, exactly. I mean I didn't actually feel it till I was probably after that. Like I said, when I did the even when I had six years, seven years not competing, I did the universe at 42. I still feel I think after the car accident when that fucked me up and couldn't compete anymore, and then I had the injuries from that, couldn't train properly for two years, and then now with these little injuries, I think that makes me feel old and depressed, and then heaven forbid I go into a fucking gym and they got a YouTube video of me on. I'm like, oh great. And all the young kids are like, Oh, Lou, inspirational. I look up and I'm like, I'm lifting these heavy weights, and like I said, nearly half the people in the videos with me, my mate Richard, training partner Ira Joe, said they're all fucking dead. So I get to watch this movie of all my dead, all my dead mates and fucking lifting heavy. I'm like, no wonder I'm fucking depressed when I see this shit.
SPEAKER_02You know what? Um, you know what? Uh I I get the little bit of life advice I can give you, Eric, is that you've already made the right choices. So you're you're you're married, right? My wedding's in two weeks. Okay, so you're getting married, you have a child, um, you're already on the right path. Your your your bodybuilding career is going great, so you're already on the right path. You're you know, like there isn't like now, uh unfortunately, the it's like stay married, like don't get divorced.
SPEAKER_01I've been there, I've been there. The grass isn't greener. I've been married five times, Eric. So you know if you need if you need advice, speak to me. I've done it five times, all right. Learn from my mistakes.
SPEAKER_02Well, what happens is when you have children and you get divorced, what people don't realize is their final stage of life, the grandchildren. So, what I mean by that is like because my brother's divorced, and I've seen it firsthand with him. And because you get divorced, and now a lot of times you have to split time with your grandchildren, and it hurts because you gotta you can't spend all Christmas with them or all Mother's Day with them or all fathers or whatever the case may be. Because I I gotta go see, I gotta go see uh mom, and then I gotta go see dad, and then I gotta go see her mom, and I gotta go see her dad. Like it's a fucking shit show. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Mary, Mary was here. You miss Mary. Oh, she had some nice things to say about you too.
SPEAKER_02Okay, right, right, yeah, exactly. And um, that's what people don't realize. They they think the grass is greener on the other on the other side, and I see it with my brother, like he he's he has to divide his time between him and his ex all the time, and I know that it bothers him, he just doesn't say anything, it just sucks it up. Yeah, he's got four grandkids, you know, and uh that's what a lot of people that get, especially like when you get divorced after 15-20 years, what the fuck are you going with? Really?
SPEAKER_01Um, it's like, is it just in us males? Because even when we were young, how many times would it be you'd have a girlfriend, but then you see another girl and you're like, Oh, she's hot. I wonder what she's like in bed. I wonder what her push, I wonder what it's like to finger pop her or something. And then you do what he's chasing, you'll be flirting. That's the best part. Then when you get them and you have sex, you're like, it's just the same. It's like, and then after that, after you do sleep with them, you never talk to them again because you're like, ah, the chase is over. So what is it? What is it with men? We always think something's gonna be better when we're not.
SPEAKER_02That's that's the problem. The problem is if you actually look at the statistics, 70% of divorces are filed by women now.
SPEAKER_01Because they want to be independent, they're strong women.
SPEAKER_0270% of divorces are filed by women, and if they are college educated, it actually goes up to 90%.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I saw that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and so the problem, and I always say this, and I didn't really didn't want to go get onto this topic, but I always say this women have complained for the last three to four decades about how men are, and men have changed to be what women want, and now women don't want that. So here's what I mean by that are men generally more faithful now than their grandfathers 100%, like not even like like back in the day, your grandfather had another family on the other side of town that nobody knew about.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that wasn't my grandfather. That's your New York grandfather.
SPEAKER_02I'm not even like if you didn't have a girlfriend on the side, and you like everything, all it was just a given, you know what I mean? And then, um, do men normally do more chores around the house now and help out now, or when your grandfather's time? Now, my grandfather never fucking did laundry or washed dishes or anything like that. So guys come home, and he I get that women there's no meal today if you come home half the time. Yeah, yeah. So uh guys come home and they're still helping around the house. Like, I'll throw in laundry if my wife isn't around, I'll throw in fucking I'll do dishes if my wife's not around. You separate the colors, John, or you put them in. I do actually. I do. That's gay.
SPEAKER_01Use use that color guard, just throw them all in together.
SPEAKER_02Well, it does have the rainbow on it, so but um uh so when you look at that, you go, Okay, uh, you got what you wanted, ladies. You know, the the men are more faithful and they do more chores around the house and help around the house.
SPEAKER_01Um, but then they don't like it. Then then they like the two, you're too easy. I had a girlfriend actually dumped me because she goes, We can't go anywhere. I said, Why? She goes, Because you're too nice. Anything I want, you get me, anything I ask you to do, you do for me. I said, Yeah, if I can do it and I enjoy doing it, what's wrong with that? Oh, you're no challenge. So she broke up with me. I went, Yeah, well fuck me, I can't win.
SPEAKER_00They like the like the conflict.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01What was it like treat what they used to say? Treat them mean, keep them keen or something. Yeah, but could you see? I actually had friends, and I mean their boyfriends were assholes. I knew they cheated, treat them like shit. Hey, get me a drink, get me this. Oh, yeah, and they would like fall head over heels for a lot of year I am doing everything nice, and I get dumped.
SPEAKER_02I'm like, what the fuck? Yeah, the nice guy always fucking, you know.
SPEAKER_01And they always say they want a nice guy, and then when they get one, it's like Eric.
SPEAKER_02My father used to play cards three times a week. He used to play cards on Monday nights, Wednesday nights, and Friday nights. Mondays and Wednesday, he played Pinochle, and then on Friday nights, he would go to uh uh a poker uh club in Brooklyn, and he would be there all night long playing fucking cards. And Lee's right was playing cards on that Friday night. I have two illegitimate brothers. One I found one I'm not kidding, Eric. I swear to God. I have two illegitimate brothers, one that I found out when my father died, and the other one I found out like three years ago.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01One of my first the first brother was conceived on a full house, and the other one was on a royal flush on poker night.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Poker night.
SPEAKER_02My one of my father's girlfriends came to the house in Brooklyn, and then my mother and the girl uh actually had a fight. They physically fought.
SPEAKER_01Your mom wanted to kill her.
SPEAKER_02And then they yeah, my mother, my mother, when you first walked into the house where I lived in Brooklyn, um, to the right, my father had made like where we could do homework. Me and my brothers could do homework and stuff. So there was a desk there, and they were fighting right there. And my mother picked up uh like a pen or a pencil, and she was trying to stab her with it because she was on top of her, and um, and uh the girl had a wig on, and my mother punched her in the face and the wig came off. And the neighbors had to come and fucking pull them apart because they were like good old days of truth about it. His never got divorced. Never got divorced.
SPEAKER_01I'll kill you.
SPEAKER_02Never got divorced, never, never, never. Yeah, yeah. When oh uh when my father died, I found that I had a uh half brother, and then all about three years ago, somebody contacted me on Instagram, and I was like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's it's fucking crazy. Like those that those when when you look at good fellas, it wasn't just gangsters that had girlfriends, like they every Italian guy had fucking girlfriends. They all it was like you were a bitch if you didn't have a side piece. My father's best friend had a girlfriend that fucking died suddenly, and everybody went to the wake with the exception of his wife and his daughter. His mother even went to the wake because it was like a it was like a given that they had girlfriends back there.
SPEAKER_01She was a nice girl, and that she was a side piece, she was a lovely girl.
SPEAKER_02I know and just and what what was funny is that I you know here's the thing I don't know how the I don't remember how the girl died, but but that that guy's that my father's friend became a captain in the banano crime family later on, really, yeah. So he was a street dude, right? Yeah when my father knew him, he was like a street dude, he was an associate, and then my father had died in 2004, and from between the 2004 and he died like last year, he he was elevated up to uh do you think do you think your father was asked uh your father was asked to help her on her way type thing? Yeah, yeah, probably.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, hey, hey, Susan's starting to talk a bit. Can you go around and just pay her a visit?
SPEAKER_02These are stories that I tell on my other channel, Eric. Like so, my father, my father used to have a building on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn that he owned because he was a contractor and it was a while where he was making a lot of money, but he used to spend it like crazy, you know. So um then he went broke because he used to spend so much money, right? So we had this building that was in foreclosure, but the but the tenants didn't know that it was in foreclosure because back then there was no internet, the only way you knew is if you went to the bank and checked yourself, and you didn't know you know you didn't know. So um finally the the where was his building?
SPEAKER_01Where was his building?
SPEAKER_02It was in Brooklyn, it was on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn.
SPEAKER_01Okay, and yeah, uh FBI, I think I know where Hoffa's body is. It's in the basement of this building.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, wait, wait, it is the story gets better, story gets better. So finally the guy finds out that it's foreclosed, and my father's not the not the uh landlord anymore. So um a week later, my father's uh friend, that same guy goes in there and says, Yeah, I'm the new landlord, you gotta stop paying me rent. And it wasn't his building, he just went in there and the good old days when you could do stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it was fucking unbelievable. Don't take checks, cash only. I'll even give you a discount this week on the rent.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and what and what was funny is that I went to his wake not long ago. I went to his wake like a couple of months ago. Me and his son still keep in touch here and there. He told me his father died. I went to the wake, and his girlfriend and his wife were there. Really? Yeah, but his wife actually died shortly after that because she had cancer.
SPEAKER_01But you know, you ever wonder when you think about when you look at a lot of the mafia, even here in Australia, like bikey gangs and stuff, it's like, how many people do you think have actually gone into basements or like the you know, the foundations of buildings in New York in that area because a lot of mafia people are in the construction and building shit? Yeah, like how many bridges when they dig the thing down to put the leg of the bridge in, you know, have gone in, then concrete's gone on top of them. I often wonder how many people are um screwed happens all the time. Um could you imagine how many are probably around in New York area and Chicago in building in the basements and yeah, so I had this this last this last I had on I have Larry Mazza on.
SPEAKER_02Eric, and when you get a chance, look up Larry Mazer, he's a former soldier in the Colombo crime family. And the reason why I had him on is my other channel, I do a lot of interviews of those guys, but he was one of the first guys because he's from the same neighborhood I am in Brooklyn, right? So I had him on a live Q ⁇ A where people could ask questions, and one of the questions was he was one of his famous murders, because there was a there was a uh uh a mafia war that he was involved in that he was heavily involved in. And one of his famous murders is when it was it was two factions of the same family that were fighting for the for whoever's gonna run the family, right? So one of his famous murders was he was the guy, he killed the guy that was going to be the underboss if that family, if that faction had won. Right? So the underboss is the number two guy, and that all that basically kind of like killed the whole thing, right? But there's a lot more to the story, but anyway, one of the questions was I swear to god, I'm not kidding. And the guy said this with a straight face. One of the questions was what did you do 48 hours? What was the the next 48 hours after you killed Nikki Black? What was it? Now, this guy went to jail, turned states evidence. He did 12 years, but since he turned states evidence, you know, he's allowed he's allowed to talk about these things. You can't get tried for the same thing twice, right? So uh he said that they went back to they used that you did you ever hear the expression going to the mattresses? It basically means like if you ever watch the Sopranos, it means they have like safe houses where they go to where they hide out if there is a war, okay? So the term is going to the mattresses, or you could say safe house, whatever you want. So we said we went back to now, even though it was happening in Brooklyn, they had it, they would they would stay in a house in New Jersey. And they he's he said with a straight face, we went back to the house in New Jersey and watched Seinfeld. That's what he said, and he was dead, dead, didn't you think that someone would come looking for him? Or that's what you did.
SPEAKER_01You watched Seinfeld, you were laughing at fucking did he have a chair against the door just in case there was a lot of things.
SPEAKER_02You blew somebody's face off with a shotgun because that's what he did. Man, yeah, it's fucking nuts. And the more like I interview people on that channel, the more I'm like, just another day in the hood, yeah, yeah. Like, and in my head, in my head, I'm going, you should be still in jail.
SPEAKER_00What's that one movie with uh Robert De Nero? He's a bus driver.
SPEAKER_02Oh well, Bronxtail, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm actually thinking of doing a uh uh a video on Chaz Palmateri, because I can't stand you know I I fucking hate Chaz Palmateri. First of all, he's a shit actor, he couldn't do anything past a uh a fucking uh mafia guy.
SPEAKER_01He always seems like he always seems like uh when I watch him, he always seems like a retarded version of Christopher Walken when he talks like it's not at all the same, and he acts like that when he's talking, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And he's been writing the he's been writing the Bronx tail thing for the last 30 years. Like they had the play, and now he has the uh the uh one-on-one uh with people talking about the the fucking movie, and it's like dude, Jesus Christ, that's your whole identity, one movie, and then he starts a podcast, and of course, because he was a Holly he was a Hollywood actor who wasn't really much of an actor, he can get anybody on that he wants, right? And then there are guys like me that are struggling to get these people on, begging for them to come on, and because he's Chaz Palmatera and he starts a podcast, they just you should get Chaz on, get him on. Oh, I would fucking I I I I really did did not like him at all.
SPEAKER_01I think you could work out your differences together, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I don't know how we got on to this. Thank god this is shooting the breeze.
SPEAKER_01I know I tell you, it's it's serious and silliness, and we cover all topics, yeah. Yeah, we cover everything. Uh shit. All right. So what what date's your wedding, Eric? In two weeks' time. July 25th. July 20th. I'll be in the UK then. I'll be in the UK.
SPEAKER_02So oh, yeah. Now, are you guys going on a honeymoon or it's just gonna be like it's just a ceremony?
SPEAKER_00We were gonna go after, but I think we're gonna wait because it's it's still like summer here. We're gonna wait till like November, December.
SPEAKER_02Oh, that's a good thing. Go somewhere, then go somewhere. Where do you have anything planned as far as that? Uh, she was mentioned like Turks and Caicos. That's very nice. Australia, mate.
SPEAKER_01Come on down under.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Turks and Caicos is beautiful. I mean, there's a lot of places you can go, uh honeymoon resorts. There was this one honeymoon spot me and my wife looked at, like when we got married, whatever it was 14 years ago, whatever the fuck it was. And it was a place in Jamaica, and they were like, Yeah, you have your own butler. And I was like, Uh, I have a black guy, I could tell what to do. I was like, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna skip that. I I'm very uncomfortable telling a black guy just make my bed. You don't tell him, you don't tell him, you ask him politely. Warm up my bath. Have very uncomfortable. Can I have a coffee, please?
SPEAKER_01I feel like DiCaprio in these sheets 100% cotton.
SPEAKER_02I would feel like DiCaprio and what's that movie with uh with uh Samuel Jackson is his uh is his uh is his slave. The fuck the one with um Jamie uh oh fuck the fuck is his name. Come on, chat. Help me out. Who's the who's uh what was the movie with DiCaprio and uh Samuel Jackson?
SPEAKER_01All I can think of is the departed, but that wasn't it.
SPEAKER_02It's a Tarantino movie. Help me out, chat. Who was it?
SPEAKER_01Um not that last one he was just in. No, not that one.
SPEAKER_02No, no, that was uh Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I didn't like that one.
SPEAKER_01No, not that the last one he was in that fucking where his daughter got kidnapped or something. That one was like no Unchained Django Unchained.
SPEAKER_02That was it. Oh, Django Unchained, that's it. Yes, that was a good movie. I like that. Great movie, yeah.
SPEAKER_01See all the trouble Tarantino got in because of an N-word, is like that's what they used back in the day. This is a period piece made in that period of time where that word was used. It's like it's like when they did he did another movie not long ago somewhere, and this was like a Viking movie, and these people were complaining there wasn't enough diversity, there weren't black people and Asian people like uh there wasn't any black or Asians around the Viking time back then. So it's like there weren't black Vikings, I don't know what the tell you dude. I used to watch Bruce Lee movies, and I never once thought there's no fucking Australians in this. I can't relate. I used to fucking love the kung fu movies, they were great.
SPEAKER_02Oh, speaking of which, uh, I watched Obsession this week.
SPEAKER_01I watched this weird, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Oh that actress was fucking great. Careful what you wish for. Yeah, Eric. No, uh uh I I when you get a chance, watch it with you and your wife. It's uh what's so special about the movie is that it's not a Hollywood movie, the director was a content creator. Creator, and then he got he uh was actually able to pair with an independent movie production. I think it was yeah, and so it had nothing to do with Hollywood. So they spent $750,000 on the movie, and it's not really made $400 million worldwide, really. Yeah, and fucking a little wish stick. Yeah, and what happens is this guy who is not very good with women is in love with this girl, you know, they're young and they work together, and and he's like he's always embarrassed around her and whatnot, and he makes a wish. What do you say?
SPEAKER_01I just wish that she loves me or something, or mad.
SPEAKER_02He wishes, oh, I wish uh she would loves me more than anything in the world, or something like that. Yeah, and let's just say from there it goes downhill or hill.
SPEAKER_01It's almost like that version of almost like the version of um wedding crashes where I'll find you and kill you. Yeah, yeah, but a real life version of that, no comedy involved.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Eric, I'm telling you, watch it with your wife because it's fucking crazy.
SPEAKER_00She was telling me about it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it was crazy. There's a lot of independent movies now that are doing well that have nothing to do with Hollywood. There's another one called Back Rooms. Um uh there was um the uh Lost Boys, Lost Boys, the death of uh the death of Robin Hood, even though it had oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01I started watching it, but then it cut out on me. I gotta watch the gotta keep watching that the death of Robin Hood.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's not it's not bad. It's it it changes.
SPEAKER_01They're coming down on Mel Gibson right now, too, because Mel said he won't have any of that woke shit in his movies and stuff. So now they're trying to stone stones are the same thing. It doesn't work. Yeah, people are like look if it's in it, it's in it, but don't have to be like you know how the Hollywood they said for an Academy Award, you've got to have this many percentages of gay people, this many percentages, or otherwise you won't get nominated. It's like just let a movie be what it is. If people want to read in order to see something in it, fine, but don't push it in there just for the sake of Supergirl. I tried to watch Supergirl, yeah, forget it.
SPEAKER_02I can't watch that shit. It's an art form. What if I wanted to paint a picture and there was this huge conglomerate that said you can't use the color blue anymore because it's offensive? You know, it's ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00It's fucking there's there's no like really funny movies anymore.
SPEAKER_02No, none zero. I mean, the lay, I mean, the last funny movie was what like um like step brothers or uh yeah, something that period, right?
SPEAKER_01That period was the last funny movie was Blazing Saddles.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, that's a long time ago. But no, Eric, you're sheriff is on me. That generation, that generation, uh uh super bad. Um, what was the one where they all went to Las Vegas on the uh the hangover? Like that was the last funny period. There was one called Get Hem to the Group. Tropic Tropic Funda.
SPEAKER_01That was the Funda was really funny, and then it's when where did we lose the sense of laughing at ourselves? Because comedy was comedy. People have stereotypes for a reason. We make fun of our stereotypes, but it's not in a malice way, it's just in a endearing, you know, be like, you know, you call or mate a certain word, he call you one back it. It got on because it was funny, it was never meant to hurt anyone, but now even joking around the comedian cancel him, cancel him, cancel him.
SPEAKER_02The good thing is the good thing is the comedians today basically um are like way past that now. Yeah, they don't care anymore what people think.
SPEAKER_00They don't watch you watch Kill Tony, love it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, love it. Yeah, we watched that guy Timmy no breaks. Uh-huh. Yeah. Uh the new comedians don't give a shit about being offensive anymore. Thank god.
SPEAKER_01It's like no one's there to offend anyone, they're just telling jokes. You might like some, you might not like others, but just laugh and fucking.
SPEAKER_02Even Kevin Hart said it. Even Kevin Hart said it to about his own roast. If you don't like it, watch something else, it's just not for you. Yeah, you know, anyway.
SPEAKER_00Tony was funny on that roast. He's hilarious.
SPEAKER_02He's really funny. Yeah, he is really funny. Who was that?
SPEAKER_01Who's that? Um, sorry to cut you. Who's that blonde on the Tom Brady roast? Who's that blonde girl? Who's that blonde girl?
SPEAKER_02She's stuck at what's her name? Um, she's funny too. She's ruthless, she's stuck at that. Uh, I can't remember what her name was. Uh oh, yeah. I know about him and his ex, and I mean she was going for the joke on Tom Brady. Uh Tom Brady.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna laugh at that because that's just so bad and funny. And if you know you're gonna get roasted, you've got to be prepared to take it. Come on, it's oh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Uh Nikki Glazier, that's who you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, she was hilarious. She was Don Rickles. You ever watch some of those old Don Rickles roasts?
SPEAKER_02Oh dude, there's they have reaction videos on YouTube of young kids watching Don Rickles roasts, and they can't fucking their head is gonna explode.
SPEAKER_01They can't roast him roast Sammy Davis Jr. like about being black, but then Sammy would give it back, they would give and take it. It was funny, it was great.
SPEAKER_02Believe me, it still goes on, people. It still goes on.
SPEAKER_01So you can tell us without anyone else knowing, John. Since you've been in the sewers, have you seen large alligators?
SPEAKER_02No alligators, no, keep going.
SPEAKER_01Or have you seen ninja turtles? No ninja turtles. So it's all bullshit that don't exist, is that it? Lots of rats, lots of rats, have you seen uh another one? Have you seen the penguin? He's meant to be down there.
SPEAKER_02No penguin, lots of rats. Like basically, the only animal I see down there is rats, like alive, dead all the time, and lots of lots of shit. Always, always, always shit. It's just it's a disgusting job. They give you Eric when they when I first got the job, they give you a list. I have it on my phone of diseases you can get. I swear to god. And they go, if you get sick, show this to your doctor and have them check them for you. It's like four or five different diseases you can get, just from the certain bacteria that you're exposed to. Yeah, and then the first year to a year and a half, like everybody's a little different. Some people have better immune systems, some people have worse. So some people it might not happen to, some people might happen for the next next five years, but you get bacteria in your system and you have diarrhea and vomiting like for 24 to 48 hours.
SPEAKER_01Well, you're in that fire to shake, you could just drop your pants in the sewer.
SPEAKER_02You know, I asked them that one time. I actually that did happen. Um that did happen to me. I did that did happen to me because it's a sewage plant, so all the sewage water gets treated. So there's a part of the of the plant that's so that's so deep in below sea level that the the the next bathroom is like 52 feet above sea levels, and I was working all the way down there, and I like fucking had to shit. And I'm like, I'm never gonna make it. I'm never gonna fucking make it. So I just fucking shit right in the sewer right there.
SPEAKER_01Does your does your city or town one more question about this? The house does it here because they just came on the radio the other day where drug usage is up in this part of Sydney, and they tell by the sewage water, by the wastewater where people are using higher levels of cocaine from their waste, like going through the sewage plant, so they know where drugs are being used most in different parts of the city.
SPEAKER_02Probably I wouldn't be surprised because we have to we do have to take a lot of samples, like a lot every day, a lot, a lot, a lot of samples, like at least 20 to 25 samples a day, maybe more, sometimes more. And then we have to send we have to test them, and then we have to send them out to be tested. So it might, yeah, they might. I don't know. Most of the time we might have to get, yeah, no, we didn't E. coli. Well, there was there was like there was a time where like um I got I we had to get into this one another part of the sewer that's really disgusting, and you're covered from head to toe, and you have these gloves on, and um, I thought it was a rock, so I just picked it up, but it was a piece of shit, actually.
SPEAKER_01Is it like a like a hazmat suit?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, where a hazmat.
SPEAKER_01Oh, look at this nice rock from a UFO or something. It's like you know, I'll find it for the next thing. When I was in Russia, it's probably in one of these drawers, but I probably couldn't grab it quick enough. This guy and his brother have a shop in Dubai where it sells artifacts from Egypt and everything. He actually gave me remember that meteor that hit in Russia and it flattened order trees and that. No, but go ahead. Oh, some big you can Google, it's like some big Russian meteorite and flattened order forest. He actually gave me a piece of that meteorite. I'm not sure I wish I could find it because it's really in 2013.
SPEAKER_02Holy shit.
SPEAKER_01Actually, hey, look, look, look, look. Hold on. Yeah, he goes, as a gift league, he goes, This is from the store in Dubai. These sell for like here it is, here it's got all the uh letters and numbers on of what it is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, here we go.
SPEAKER_01Look at this HR1 dash, whatever. Here it is. Here's an actual piece of the meteorite. Look. Holy shit. That did that.
SPEAKER_02Look at this in 2013, it's right here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, that's it, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It was causal proximate 18 meter uh uh asteroid that entered the atmosphere at a shallow 18 degree angle and a speed relative to Earth about 19.2 kilometers. Holy shit.
SPEAKER_01Lee actually gave me a piece of the Titanic. Yeah, a piece of coal from the Titanic.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_01They brought up they brought up so many tons of coal from the Titanic and they put it inside keyrings and little things, and you get a certificate of authenticity with it. But there you go. If I just touch this now, if I get some sort of disease like body snatches, and I turn into an alien.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you're gonna turn into uh uh what was that stupid ass movie when we were kids, Lee? The guy no, no, not that one. The one that got that guy that turns into like this mutant because he was in some kind of toxic waste, toxic Avenger, toxic Avenger. Yeah, there was some stupid movie.
SPEAKER_01They remade that, they remade that not long ago, but I didn't they really? Yeah, it's remade. Yeah, have a look, yeah.
SPEAKER_02All right, here we go. And then what and then we'll I'll let everybody go. It's getting late. Toxic Avenger, yeah.
SPEAKER_01They just made a new one of it. I think it was last year.
SPEAKER_02You're right, 2025. Oh, look at that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's like really muscular now, too.
SPEAKER_02It's like god, how fuck I had no idea how pink ledges in it for fuck's sake.
SPEAKER_01I think he's he's the toxic, he's the toxic Avenger. I think.
SPEAKER_02Get out of here, really. I think so. Yeah, he went from Game of Thrones to the Toxic Avenger. Uh, yeah. Oh, 2023.
SPEAKER_01He looks like a little retarded leprechaun with a mop.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god, this is unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01You have to watch it now, something to watch.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, I can't miss this. We gotta uh all right, gentlemen. I'm gonna go. I gotta get up early. It's fucking Jesus, it's 10 48. We've been out for an hour, 15 minutes already.
SPEAKER_01I'm gonna go take a dump and just believe in my mind that my dump, you'll see it in the morning when you're at work. Yeah, that's all yeah. I'll put a bow on it for you so you know which one it is.
SPEAKER_02Eric, thanks a lot, man, for coming on, dude. I really appreciate it, bro. Good seeing you again, Eric.
SPEAKER_01I want to know this. Eric, before you go, you sit in the sun, you look very tanned all the time.
SPEAKER_00I was just out in uh pressure washing all day.
SPEAKER_02Uh oh, that's right. Oh, doing some work for your mother. Look at that the only one to show off the gun there.
SPEAKER_01We know.
SPEAKER_02Remember when you had fucking fucking well, what do people say when you're at your mother-in-law's pressure washing? You look like fucking McGilleth gorilla out there. Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I get like like probably 10 people a day just saying something like they go, What the fuck?
SPEAKER_02What are they feeding you? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Exactly.
SPEAKER_01So you're all his all these mothers, all these mothers' friends come around for a cup of tea and just watching pressure wash.
SPEAKER_02All right, gentlemen, I'm gonna let you guys go. I will talk to you soon. Eric, thank you. Leo. Text you a little later. See you guys.